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KRAKOW, Poland — KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — Elon Musk, who has been accused of permitting antisemitic messages on his social media platform, X, visited the location of the Auschwitz-Birkenau loss of life camp on Monday, saying afterwards that the tragedy of the Holocaust “hits you far more within the coronary heart whenever you see it in individual.”
Musk toured essentially the most infamous extermination camp established by Nazi Germany throughout World Warfare II earlier than attending a convention on antisemitism organized by the European Jewish Affiliation within the close by Polish metropolis of Krakow.
He admitted to having been “naïve” in regards to the extent of antisemitism till just lately, saying that’s as a result of most of his associates are Jewish and he has had little contact with it in his personal life.
“Within the circles that I transfer, I see nearly no antisemitism,” Musk mentioned on the convention in a dialogue with conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro of the Every day Wire. “And, you recognize, there’s this outdated joke ‘I’ve received like this one Jewish good friend.’ No, I’ve like two-thirds of my associates are Jewish. I’ve twice as many Jewish associates as non-Jewish associates. I’m like Jewish by affiliation, I’m aspirationally Jewish.”
He defended his X platform as a spot the place freedom of speech prospers, saying {that a} free change of concepts is one thing that finally helps to right hatred, noting that the Nazis shut down freedom of press and knowledge.
“The overarching aim for the X platform is to be the perfect supply of fact on the planet,” he mentioned. The “relentless pursuit of the reality is the aim with X and permitting individuals to say what they wish to say, even when it’s controversial, supplied that it doesn’t break the legislation.”
The billionaire has confronted accusations from the Anti-Defamation League, a distinguished Jewish civil rights group, and others of tolerating antisemitic messages on the platform, previously often called Twitter, since buying it in 2022.
He sparked an outcry in November, together with from the White Home, when he responded on X to a consumer who accused Jews of hating white individuals and professing indifference to antisemitism by posting, “You’ve mentioned the precise fact.” He later apologized for the remark, calling it the “dumbest” publish that he’s ever accomplished.
A number of massive manufacturers, together with Disney and IBM, stopped promoting on the platform final yr after liberal advocacy group Media Issues mentioned that their adverts had been showing alongside pro-Nazi content material and white nationalist posts. X has since sued Media Issues, saying the Washington-based nonprofit manufactured the report back to “drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.”
Musk visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau web site along with his 3-year-old son and others, together with Shapiro and the founder and head of the European Jewish Affiliation, Rabbi Menachem Margolin. The positioning, close to the city of Oswiecim in southern Poland, is fenced off with barbed wire. Picket barracks for the prisoners and the ruins of gasoline chambers endure as proof of Nazi crimes. There’s additionally a monument to the victims the place remembrance ceremonies are held yearly.
“It was extremely shifting and deeply unhappy and tragic that people may do that to different people,” Musk mentioned in regards to the go to. “I’m a scholar of historical past, so I had seen the photographs, I’d seen the movies, however … it hits you far more within the coronary heart whenever you see it in individual.”
Musk had been anticipated to make the go to on Tuesday and participate in a memorial service, along with political figures attending the EJA convention in Krakow, however confirmed up on the Nazi loss of life camp on Monday as an alternative.
“On account of schedule issues, earlier than Elon Musk’s arrival to the European Jewish Affiliation convention, he took half in a non-public go to to Auschwitz-Birkenau with EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Ben Shapiro and Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev. Musk laid a wreath on the wall of loss of life and took half in a brief memorial ceremony and repair by the Birkenau memorial,” the EJA mentioned in an e mail.
Oliver Bradley, an EJA media adviser, mentioned the group “challenged” Musk to come back to Auschwitz throughout a Zoom convention on antisemitism in social media a number of months in the past.
“Musk shrugged his shoulders on the suggestion stating that he already knew the historical past of the Holocaust … as if visiting may not be an impactful expertise,” Bradley mentioned.
However Margolin, the EJA chairman, “efficiently satisfied Musk of the need of experiencing a spot of genocide so as to even start to actually fathom the dimension of the Holocaust,” Bradley mentioned.
X, the social media platform that Musk purchased when it was often called Twitter, did not reply to a request for remark about his journey, sending an automatic message saying, “Busy now, please verify again later.” SpaceX, Musk’s rocket firm, additionally did not reply to e mail requests for remark.
The EJA convention on the rise of antisemitism was held in Krakow earlier than Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27.
Greater than 1.1 million individuals had been murdered by the Nazis and their henchmen at Auschwitz throughout World Warfare II. Most who had been killed had been Jews, however the victims additionally included Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of conflict, and others. In all, about 6 million European Jews died throughout the Holocaust. When the Soviets liberated the camp, they discovered about 7,000 survivors.
Musk mentioned that had there been social media on the time of World Warfare II, the Holocaust “would have been inconceivable to cover” and lives may have been saved.
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AP writers Kelvin Chan in London, Monika Scislowska in Warsaw and Vanessa Gera contributed to this report .
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